A high-speed air spindle including a spindle 1 supported by a first bearing 3 at the leading end side in the axial direction and a second bearing 2 at the rear end side, a driving air turbine 4 fixed in a spindle portion between the first bearing 3 and the second bearing 2, a speed-increasing air turbine 5 fixed in a spindle portion ahead of the first bearing 3, and an air passage 9 of an exhaust of compressed air supplied in the driving air turbine 4, flowing in the sequence of the first bearing 3 and the speed-increasing air turbine 5.
|
1. A high-speed air spindle comprising:
a spindle supported by a first bearing at the leading end side in the axial direction and a second bearing at the rear end side,
a driving air turbine fixed in a spindle portion between the first bearing and the second bearing,
a speed-increasing air turbine fixed in a spindle portion ahead of the first bearing, and
an air passage of an exhaust of compressed air supplied in the driving air turbine, flowing in the sequence of the first bearing and the speed-increasing air turbine.
3. The high-speed air spindle of
4. The high-speed air spindle of
5. The high-speed air spindle of
6. The high-speed air spindle of
7. The high-speed air spindle of
|
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-speed air spindle capable of rotating a spindle at a high speed exceeding 200,000 rpm.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A machine tool having a high-speed spindle is used in high-precision cutting and machining in die fabrication of, for example, a portable telephone or a camera. The high-speed spindle is available as an air spindle driven by a compressed air, and an electric motor spindle driven by an electric motor. In particular, the air spindle (a) does not operate an electric motor, and is hence free from heat generation source, and is capable of machining at a high speed of about 80,000 rpm stably without being accompanied by thermal distortion, (b) and is small in the number of parts, and small in tool run-out due to imbalance in high-speed rotation, (c) rotates the spindle at a high speed, and is free form change in the depth of cut due to thermal distortion, and is easy in machining in a small diameter, and (d) is small in rotating noise, and has many other features, and it is favorably used in small-diameter machining where cutting and machining of high precision are demanded.
A conventional air spindle is shown, for example, in
Recently, in small-diameter machining, further, machining at a higher precision and machining in a shorter time are demanded, and it is requested to develop a high-speed spindle capable of rotating at a high speed exceeding 200,000 rpm without any particular axial run-out. A machine tool having such high-speed spindle capable of rotating at super-high speed is capable of machining an extremely small part at high precision, and curtails the machining time and extends the tool life, and brings about outstanding merits.
However, the conventional high-speed spindle rotates at 80,000 rpm at most, and is far from satisfying the above requests. On the other hand, JP-A No. 11-13753 discloses a high-speed spindle, being a spindle incorporating a spindle rotation drive device in its inside, in which the spindle is supported by a pair of rolling elements making planetary motions on the guide surface in the housing at two positions in the axial direction, an air turbine for rotating holders is affixed between two rolling element holders of the holders for holding the rolling elements, and bearing for supporting the holders are provided on the outer circumference of the spindle or on the inner surface of the housing, but stable operation is not obtained at rotating speed exceeding 200,000 rpm even by using a speed-increasing device of high-speed spindle like this.
It is hence an object of the invention to provide a high-speed air spindle extremely small in axial run-out, and capable of rotating the spindle stably at a high speed exceeding 200,000 rpm.
The invention is intended to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and it is hence an object thereof to provide a high-speed air spindle comprising a spindle supported by a first bearing at the leading end side in the axial direction and a second bearing at the rear end side, a driving air turbine fixed in a spindle portion between the first bearing and the second bearing, a speed-increasing air turbine fixed in a spindle portion ahead of the first bearing, and an air passage of an exhaust of compressed air supplied in the driving air turbine, flowing in the sequence of the first bearing and the speed-increasing air turbine.
According to the invention, the axial run-out is extremely small, and the spindle can be rotated at a high speed exceeding 200,000 rpm stably. Hence, in small-diameter machining, high precision machining is realized, and the machining time can be shortened. Moreover, the tool life is extended, the cost is reduced, and FA (factory automation) can be promoted.
A high-speed air spindle in an embodiment of the invention is described below while referring to
A high-speed air spindle 10 includes a spindle 1 supported by a first bearing 3 at the leading end side in the axial direction and a second bearing 2 at the rear end side, a driving air turbine 4 fixed in a spindle portion between the first bearing 3 and the second bearing 2, a speed-increasing air turbine 5 fixed in a spindle portion ahead of the first bearing 3, and an air passage 9 of an exhaust A1 of compressed air supplied in the driving air turbine 4, flowing in the sequence of the first bearing 3 and the speed-increasing air turbine 5.
The driving air turbine 4 is not particularly specified as far as it has the action of impulse turbine in principle, and it is also called a radial-flow turbine, and it receives the compressed air A supplied from compressed air feed means not shown at its blades 41, and rotates the spindle 1. The driving air turbine 4 may be the same as used in the conventional air spindle. An example of the driving air turbine 4 is shown in
The speed-increasing air turbine 5 is an axial-flow turbine, and it receives the exhaust from the driving air turbine 4 at its blades 51, and rotates the spindle 1 at higher speed. The position of installation of the speed-increasing air turbine 5 is not limited to the position shown in
The speed-increasing air turbine 5 consists of a ring-shaped inside retainer 52, a ring-shaped outside retainer 53, and six blades 51 provided in a space formed by the inside retainer 52 and the outside retainer 53, and openings 54 are formed between the adjacent blades 51. The openings 54 are exhaust ports for releasing the exhaust blown to the blades 51. The shape of the blades 51 is a slightly concave shape on the whole surface of the blades, being inclined downward from the rotating direction side to the anti-rotating direction side, and the shape of both ends in the circumferential direction, that is, the shape extending in the radial direction forms a part of the vortex shape. The downward inclination angle from the rotating direction side to the anti-rotating direction side of the blades, that is, the angle formed by the line linking the front end and rear end in the rotating direction of the blades and the direction orthogonal* to the spindle shaft (symbol α in
The air discharge port 8 for blowing the air A2 having cooled the first bearing 3 against the blades 51 of the speed-increasing air turbine 5 is provided in a plurality, four in this embodiment, in the fixed side housing 11 as shown in
The number of air discharge ports 8 is not limited to four, but may be determined appropriately. The total cross sectional area of the openings of the air discharge ports 8 is 3.0 to 4.0 mm2. If the total cross sectional area of the openings of the air discharge ports 8 is too small, enough flow velocity of the exhaust for increasing the speed sufficiently for the speed-increasing air turbine 5 is not obtained, and the bearing temperature may rise to cause bearing breakdown. If too much, to the contrary, the flow rate of compressed air supplied from a plurality of feed ports 13 may fluctuate, which is undesirable as rotation is not efficient.
The flow velocity of the exhaust from the air discharge ports is preferably 150 m/s or more, and more preferably 190 m/s or more. If the flow velocity of the exhaust is less than 150 m/s, the speed-increasing air turbine 5 cannot be rotated at higher speed, and the spindle rotation hardly reaches 200,000 rpm. The flow velocity of the exhaust is preferably as high as possible, but the upper limit pressure of the air compressor used in most machine tools is about 0.85 MPa, and the air pressure supplied to the spindle is about 0.45 MPa, and in this condition the exhaust flow velocity is about 250 m/s.
The first bearing 3 and the second bearing 2 for supporting the spindle 1 may be both angular ball bearings. The angular ball bearings are preferred because the composite load of axial load and radial load can be supported. Since the angular ball bearings have a contact angle, when an angular load acts, an axial partial force is generated. Accordingly, as in the first bearing 3, preferably, two single-row angular ball bearings are combined in back-to-back pair for use.
In the high-speed air turbine 10 of the invention, the exhaust A1 of the compressed air A supplied in the driving air turbine 4 flows in the sequence of the first bearing 3 and the speed-increasing air turbine 5 in a first air passage 9, and the exhaust A1 of the compressed air A supplied in the driving air turbine 4 flows in the sequence of the second bearing 2 in a second air passage 9a. The compressed air A is usually supplied from a plurality of feed ports 13 formed at specified pitches in the circumferential direction of the driving air turbine 4, and injecting at about a right angle to the blades 41 of the driving air turbine 4. The first air passage 9 and the second air passage 9a are formed across an annular gap between the circumferential surface of the blades 41 and cylindrical member 42 of the driving air turbine 4, and the inner circumferential surface of the housing, and near the both sides of the bearing direction of the first bearing 3 and the second bearing 2, the annular shape is expanded to a diameter including the ball support parts of the bearings. In the first air passage 9, the exhaust A2 after cooling the first bearing 3 passes through the air discharge ports 8, and is blown to the blades of the speed-increasing air turbine 5. In the second air passage 9a, the exhaust after cooling the second bearing 2 passes through an exhaust duct 12, and is exhausted outside.
In the high-speed air turbine 10 of the invention, the method of mounting the machining tool 6 on the spindle 1 is not particularly specified, and, for example, as shown in
The machining tool used in the high-speed air turbine 10 of the invention includes a cutting tool and a grinding tool. In the case of a small-diameter machining by using a cutting tool, the tool diameter is preferably 0.03 mm at minimum, and the tool may be used stably. In the case of a conventional air turbine, if the tool diameter is 0.1 mm, the axial run-out rigidity of the spindle is insufficient, and the tool may be broken. Or high-precision cutting and machining is difficult. If a material of high hardness is machined by using a spindle lacking in rigidity, the displacement amount in the Z-direction or the displacement amount in the rotating direction increases. Small-diameter machining is required, for example when cutting and machining a die for portable telephone or camera having a small diameter part of 0.1 mm or less in the fillet or width.
Next, the mechanism of high-speed rotation of the high-speed air spindle 10 assembled as shown in
Referring now to
By using a machine tool having such high-speed air spindle of the invention, for example, when a precision die is manufactured, although impossible previously, a high-precision machining can be done in a short time at plane precision of 1 μm or less. At the same time, the tool life can be extended.
The invention is more specifically described below by presenting examples, but these examples are provided for purposes of illustration and the invention is not limited to these examples alone.
A machine tool having a configuration as shown in
<Compressed Air>
The flow velocity of exhaust blown from air discharge ports is the value measured by dismounting the speed-increasing air turbine. The flow velocity and flow rate of the exhaust were measured by using TA10 thermal type wind velocity sensor TA10-285GE-200M/S (manufactured by Hertz) and sensor separate type U10a transformer TA10 (manufactured by Hertz).
<Measuring Method of Rotating Speed>
The rotating speed of the spindle is measured by using photoelectric type tachometer LBT15TA (measuring range 0 to 300,000 rpm) (manufactured by Sugawara Laboratories Inc.).
The rotating speed of the spindle was measured in the same method as in example 1, except that the compressed air pressure was changed from 0.45 MPa to 0.50 MPa (example 2), or 0.55 MPa (example 3). The results were respectively 210,000 rpm and 260,000 rpm.
<Verification Experiments of Installation Effects of Speed-Increasing Air Turbine>
(Experiment 1: effects of supply angle (angle of attack of turbine) of compressed air (virtual exhaust) on rotating speed of speed-increasing air turbine)
Using a measuring instrument provided with an angle detector in the following specification shown in
(Specification of Measuring Instrument)
As clear from
In the high-speed air spindle in experiment 1, the speed-increasing air turbine was dismounted, and the rotating speed at supply air pressure of 0.45 MPa was 120,000 to 126,000 rpm. By mounting the speed-increasing air turbine, when started at the supply air source of 0.45 MPa, the rotating speed obtained in the speed-increasing air turbine is 120,000 rpm, and as shown in
<Fabrication of Die>
In high-speed rotation at the level of 200,000 rpm, it is difficult to measure the axial run-out in micron order because of influence by gyro effect or vibration. Accordingly, a cutting tool of diameter of 0.1 mm was mounted on the high-speed air spindle of example 1, and at rotation of 200,000 rpm, a die for a portable telephone having a piece of small diameter of 0.1 mm was actually cut and evaluated. The cutting tool was set on the collet, and the collet was fitted to the spindle by shrinkage fitting method. As a result, the cutting tool was not broken, and a die of desired shape could be fabricated at high precision.
Cutting and machining was attempted in a same method as in example 4, except that the high-speed air spindle was replaced by a conventional spindle without a speed-increasing air turbine, that the spindle rotating speed of 200,000 rpm was changed to 100,000 rpm, and that the tool was tightened by the nut instead of the shrinkage fitting method. As a result, the cutting tool was broken in the process of cutting a piece of small diameter. The causes were axial run-out of the air spindle, and lack of rotation.
Murata, Tomoaki, Itoh, Koushi, Shinohara, Hirokatsu
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
10207378, | Sep 13 2013 | Colibri Spindles Ltd. | Fluid powered spindle |
10207379, | Jan 21 2016 | Colibri Spindles Ltd. | Live tool collar having wireless sensor |
9216428, | Nov 04 2011 | NSK Ltd | Spindle system and electrostatic painting system |
9333611, | Sep 13 2013 | Colibri Spindles, Ltd. | Fluid powered spindle |
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
2724134, | |||
3175293, | |||
3381378, | |||
3952416, | Dec 07 1973 | Kaltenbach & Voigt | Dental handpiece |
4566849, | Mar 08 1982 | IRO AKTIEBOLAG, ALSO KNOWN AS IRO AB | Pressure medium driven machine tool |
4934040, | Jul 10 1986 | Spindle driver for machine tools | |
5902108, | Feb 25 1997 | J. Morita Manufacturing Corporation | Air turbine handpiece |
5934385, | Jun 30 1995 | Svenska Precisionsverktyg AB | Tapping tool and method for driving or controlling a tapping tool with pressurized fluid |
6273718, | May 05 1999 | M & H Dentalwerk Burmoos GmbH | Dental handpiece |
6336790, | Oct 18 1996 | Atlas Copco Tools A.B. | Axial flow power tool turbine machine |
6676374, | Dec 03 1999 | J MORITA MANUFACTURING CORPORATION | Air-driven rotating and cutting device for use in medical and dental procedures |
7927101, | Mar 22 2005 | J MORITA MANUFACTURING CORPORATION | Handpiece and method for preventing occurence of sucking-back in the handpiece |
JP11013753, | |||
28390, |
Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
Apr 04 2008 | Koushi Itoh | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
Apr 04 2008 | Shinohara Industry Inc. | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
Apr 04 2008 | Tomoaki Murata | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
Apr 15 2008 | SHINOHARA, HIROKATSU | MURATA, TOMOAKI | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | ITOH, KOUSHI | MURATA, TOMOAKI | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | MURATA, TOMOAKI | SHINOHARA INDUSTRY INC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | SHINOHARA, HIROKATSU | SHINOHARA INDUSTRY INC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | ITOH, KOUSHI | SHINOHARA INDUSTRY INC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | MURATA, TOMOAKI | ITOH, KOUSHI | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | SHINOHARA, HIROKATSU | ITOH, KOUSHI | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | ITOH, KOUSHI | ITOH, KOUSHI | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 | |
Apr 15 2008 | MURATA, TOMOAKI | MURATA, TOMOAKI | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 021246 | /0304 |
Date | Maintenance Fee Events |
Apr 27 2016 | ASPN: Payor Number Assigned. |
Aug 11 2016 | M2551: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 4th Yr, Small Entity. |
Oct 19 2020 | REM: Maintenance Fee Reminder Mailed. |
Apr 05 2021 | EXP: Patent Expired for Failure to Pay Maintenance Fees. |
Date | Maintenance Schedule |
Feb 26 2016 | 4 years fee payment window open |
Aug 26 2016 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Feb 26 2017 | patent expiry (for year 4) |
Feb 26 2019 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 4) |
Feb 26 2020 | 8 years fee payment window open |
Aug 26 2020 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Feb 26 2021 | patent expiry (for year 8) |
Feb 26 2023 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 8) |
Feb 26 2024 | 12 years fee payment window open |
Aug 26 2024 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Feb 26 2025 | patent expiry (for year 12) |
Feb 26 2027 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 12) |